At just Rs 450 crore, ISRO'S Mars mission is the cheapest so far. The Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first interplanetary mission to planet Mars with an orbiter craft designed to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit. After a nine-month long journey, the Orbiter is scheduled to enter Mars' orbit on September 24. To reach Mars, the spacecraft had to enter three phases, the earth centered phase, the helio centric phase and finally the Martian phase.